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Lookalikes

Lookalike search finds creators who resemble a set of . You provide one or more examples of what you’re looking for, and the API returns ranked results based on content themes, audience overlap, posting style, and engagement patterns. This is useful when you have creators that work and want to find more like them — or when you need to replace a creator who declined and want someone with a similar profile.

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How It Works

  1. You provide 1-10 seed creators (by ID or platform + username)
  2. Optionally weight each seed to control how much it influences results
  3. The API analyzes content, audience, and style similarities
  4. You get back ranked results with similarity scores and human-readable shared traits
Each result tells you why a creator is similar, not just that they are.

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Seeds

A seed is a reference creator. You can identify seeds two ways: 
// By creator ID (if you already have one from search or a previous lookup)
{ "creator_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890", "weight": 1.0 }

// By platform + username (if you're starting from a social handle)
{ "platform": "instagram", "username": "fitness_coach_jane", "weight": 1.0 }
You can mix both formats in the same request. If a platform + username can’t be found, the API skips that seed and continues with the rest — the request only fails if none of the seeds resolve.

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Weighting

Weights control how much each seed influences the results. They range from 0 to 1, with 1.0 as the default. 
{
  "seeds": [
    { "platform": "instagram", "username": "top_performer", "weight": 1.0 },
    { "platform": "instagram", "username": "decent_creator", "weight": 0.5 },
    { "platform": "instagram", "username": "niche_pick", "weight": 0.3 }
  ],
  "limit": 20
}
A higher weight means the API leans more heavily on that seed’s characteristics when ranking results. This is where lookalike search becomes genuinely useful beyond simple “find similar” — you can encode your preferences into the weights.

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Using Performance Data as Weights

If you have campaign performance data (ROI, conversion rates, engagement), turn it into weights. Your best-performing creator gets weight 1.0, and others scale relative to that. For example, if you ran a campaign with three creators:
CreatorCampaign ROIWeight
@top_performer4.2x1.0
@decent_creator2.1x0.5
@niche_pick1.3x0.3
The resulting lookalike search finds creators who skew toward your best performer’s profile while still incorporating traits from the others. Over time, this creates a feedback loop — each campaign’s results improve your next lookalike search.

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Filters

Apply the same filters available on search to narrow lookalike results: 
{
  "seeds": [
    { "platform": "instagram", "username": "fitness_coach_jane" }
  ],
  "filters": {
    "followers": { "min": 25000, "max": 500000 },
    "engagement_rate": { "min": 2.0 },
    "verified": true
  },
  "limit": 15
}
FilterTypeDescription
followers.min / followers.maxintegerFollower count range
engagement_rate.min / engagement_rate.maxnumberEngagement rate as percentage (2.0 = 2%)
verifiedbooleanOnly verified accounts

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Response

Each result includes a similarity score and shared traits explaining the match: 
{
  "data": [
    {
      "creator": {
        "id": "d9e8f7a6-b5c4-3d2e-1f0a-9b8c7d6e5f4a",
        "name": "Lena Park",
        "bio": "Yoga & strength training | NYC",
        "avatar_url": "https://cdn.example.com/lena.jpg"
      },
      "primary_profile": {
        "platform": "instagram",
        "username": "lenapark_fit",
        "url": "https://www.instagram.com/lenapark_fit",
        "followers": 87000,
        "engagement_rate": 4.1,
        "is_verified": false
      },
      "similarity": {
        "score": 0.89,
        "shared_traits": [
          "Both focus on fitness and wellness content",
          "Similar audience demographics (women 25-34)",
          "Comparable engagement patterns on workout videos",
          "Clean, professional content style"
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "has_more": true,
  "next_cursor": "eyJvZmZzZXQiOjI1fQ=="
}
The similarity.score ranges from 0 to 1. Scores above 0.8 typically indicate strong overlap. The shared_traits list explains what the seed and result have in common — useful for displaying to end users or for your own review.

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Pagination

Lookalike uses cursor pagination. Pass next_cursor from the response to fetch the next page: 
curl -X POST https://api.influship.com/v1/creators/lookalike \
  -H 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "seeds": [{"platform": "instagram", "username": "fitness_coach_jane"}],
    "limit": 25,
    "cursor": "eyJvZmZzZXQiOjI1fQ=="
  }'
Stop when has_more is false. See the Pagination guide for patterns.

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Pricing

Lookalike is billed per creator returned: 1.5 per creator ($0.015). No base fee. See Pricing for the full table.

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Limits

ParameterMinMaxDefault
Seeds110—
Weight per seed011.0
Limit (results)110025

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Implementation Advice

  • Start with one seed to calibrate. Add more seeds once you understand what the single-seed results look like.
  • Use weights to encode knowledge. If you know one creator drives better results than another, the weights should reflect that. Don’t default everything to 1.0 if you have data.
  • Combine with match scoring. Run lookalike to expand your list, then pass the results through POST /v1/creators/match with your campaign brief to filter for actual campaign fit. Lookalikes find similar creators — match scoring tells you if they’re a good fit for this specific campaign.